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The raptors are coming home to roost, the fish are biting and the birds are chirping.

So, it’s time to get into the great outdoors and embrace the changing season.

A Raptorfest to watch the migration, perch derby and songbird festival are among the options.

Lots of screeching and cawing

A spectacle of nature is the migration of thousands of hawks, eagles, vultures and falcons along the Niagara Escarpment.

Learn about these winged wonders at RaptorFest, a free event next Saturday (April 21) from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Peach King Centre in Grimsby, Ont.

Niagara Peninsula Hawkwatch, which has monitored the migration since 1975, recorded its 500,000th raptor last year.

So far this year, there have been some 8,300 raptors counted including about 2,500 in the first nine days of April at the Beamer Memorial Conservation Area.

“We count from March 1 to May 15, with the best time for seeing birds being the last two weeks of March and last two of April,” said Mike Street of Hawkwatch.

The area offers panoramic views of the escarpment and Lake Ontario with a Lookout Trail and viewing platforms.

Among the 20,368 sightings last year were thousands of red-tailed hawks and turkey vultures and hundreds of red-shouldered and sharp-shinned hawks, along with dozens of Cooper's hawks, bald eagles and osprey.

In some years, thousands of broad-winged hawks are counted in a short period late in April, Street said.

This year’s flyovers include four black vultures, “a southern bird that is rarely seen in this area,” said Rick Quirk, RaptorFest co-founder.

The birds flock to the escarpment seeking the shortest route around large bodies of water with rising air on which to glide to conserve energy en route to breeding territories farther north in Ontario.

New at the event is the Niagara Falls Bird Kingdom with parrots while returning is the Canadian Raptor Conservancy with a golden eagle and other birds of prey, and the Travelling Reptile Show.

The Muskoka Wildlife Centre will have Luna, a rescued saw-whet owl, a ground hog, grey fox, skunk and porcupine.

Carla Carlson, who runs Niagara Nature Tours, will lead a hike on April 22 at the conservation area at no charge and on an accessible trail.

Participants will meet the hawk watchers and learn about and watch the migration and view spring flowers.

Accommodations are available at Carlson’s Bonnybank Bed and Breakfast, set in an owl sanctuary, near Jordan.